Recording
In February 1985, work started at Elora Sound in Canada for three weeks, in a barn with a 24-track studio. Vocalist and bassist Geddy Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson were working on songs that could fit the lyrics drummer Neil Peart wrote at a small desk there, with Peart at the same time trying to write lyrics adaptable to Lee and Lifeson's music. During his time there, Peart researched the Manhattan Project to prepare to write lyrics for the song of the same name. He also wrote rough outlines for "The Big Money," "Mystic Rhythms" and "Marathon". Lee and Lifeson sorted through jams and Lifeson’s riff tapes to write music for these songs, with each song taking up to a week. They then began on "Middletown Dreams", "Marathon" once again, and then "Grand Designs".
Peart went through tapes to the five new songs in a Miami hotel room in March, getting ready for the warm-up tour gig in Lakeland, Florida. At this point, the band met up with engineer James "Jimbo" Barton, recommended by producer Peter Collins. Later at Elora, the songs whose lyrics Peart was formerly struggling with, "Territories" and "Manhattan Project", began to come together. Peart was also working on lyrics to a ballad called "Emotion Detector", which seemed to work perfectly with the music they were jamming on at the time. The music to "Territories" was also arranged, and a tape of seven songs was created. They had trouble with writing the music to "Manhattan Project", but Collins contributed ideas to this and other songs.
In April, at The Manor Studio in England, basic tracks were recorded more quickly than usual, in the span of a few weeks, to capture more spontaneous performances ready for overdubs. Andy Richards was brought in to provide extra keyboard programming and performances. The drum tech was sent to London to pick up African and Indian drums for use on "Mystic Rhythms", and bongos were also used on "Territories".
Lifeson began recording guitar overdubs in May at Air Studios in Montserrat. Next, in June, at Sarm East Studios in London, he began on guitar solos, and Lee did vocals. They moved to a townhouse in July for mixing, a decision on the track listing, and the artwork, credits, and photos. Strings were recorded for the album by a 30-piece orchestra in Studio 1 at Abbey Road Studios in August. A 25-piece choir was also recorded at Angel Studios for the ending of "Marathon". In September, Lee oversaw the mastering in New York, and proofs were approved for the album cover.
Read more about this topic: Power Windows (album)
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“Too many photographers try too hard. They try to lift photography into the realm of Art, because they have an inferiority complex about their Craft. You and I would see more interesting photography if they would stop worrying, and instead, apply horse-sense to the problem of recording the look and feel of their own era.”
—Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)
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—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)